Sbisa moves easily from rink to links
Canucks defenceman talks about his love affair with game of golf
Hockey players love to golf. Even the ones from Switzerland.
Vancouver Canucks defenceman Luca Sbisa acknowledges he has a love for the game that borders on an addiction.
He has even managed to get his fiance, Ladner native Lauren Anaka, interested in the sport, which helps ease the guilt about spending all that time on the course.
In an interview, Sbisa talks about his love affair with the game, his long struggle to finally break 80 and how golf back home in Switzerland is a little different. Q Switzerland has produced some great athletes — Roger Federer and Martina Hingis, who both reached No. 1 in the world as tennis players, come to mind — but I can’t think of a notable Swiss golfer. Can you? A We are certainly not known for professional golfers. For whatever reason, we haven’t really put anyone out there on the big tours. But a lot of people golf. My home course was one of the busiest courses in Europe. Q I read there are about 100 courses in Switzerland. How many have you played? A Only a handful. I don’t play a lot back home. Because we don’t have as many courses, they are busy and it’s harder to just walk on and play. You can’t just go out there and play. At many courses you have to be a member or you have to have a handicap or you have to take a handicap test. In some ways, it is harder than getting a driver’s licence. So when I go home I don’t play that much. I spend most of my summers in Newport Beach, where I play a ton. Q What is the attraction? What got you hooked on golf? A It’s a game that continually challenges you to get better. You shoot a good round and you’re like, now I have figured it out and I am going to shoot a better round. And of course that doesn’t happen. You just can’t ever play a perfect round. And I like the fact it’s so different for a guy like me who grew up playing a team sport. Q You have a physical side to your hockey game. What about your golf game? Are you a finesse player or a grip-it-and-rip-it player? A Actually, I am more of a finesse guy in golf. I am not an extremely long hitter compared to some of the other guys on the team. I do think I have a pretty soft touch with my wedges, but I am a terrible putter. Q Who are the best golfers among the current Canucks? A I have to say (Linden) Vey, who is a low single handicap. (Sven) Baertschi is a good player. Then there are a bunch of us who are kind of in the same boat. Guys like (Jacob) Markstrom, (Chris) Tanev, me, (Derek) Dorsett. We are all in that 8 to 12, 13, or 14 handicap range. So we have good matches when we get out there. Q Have you got a memorable round? A I usually shoot low- to mid-80s, but for whatever reason I never managed to shoot in the 70s until last summer. I must have had close to 50 rounds where I shot 80 or 81. I would be going into the last two holes where if I par both I am shooting 78 and then I go bogey-double bogey. It got to the point where it was really inside my head. Finally last year I shot 79 on a pretty nice course so that was a big deal. Finally I can say I shot 79. Q I understand you have your fiance, Lauren, hooked on the game. So she is not going to be a golf widow? A No, she loves it now. Our last year in Anaheim a bunch of the girls played golf and got lessons. Before, you couldn’t take her on the course. That wouldn’t work. It’s great because when we go on vacation to Hawaii or Mexico or whatever I would want to play. But it’s a fouror five-hour thing and I’d know she is probably not having the best time. So you’d kind of feel guilty about it even though she said, ‘go ahead.’ I figured it would be cool if we could do those things together. Now wherever we go she’s is good enough to have a good time and play. She loves the game like me.